Current Events > Why are timeshares so bad?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just curious. Seems like an older issue (i.e. the Asspen episode of South Park or "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare") that isn't too prevalent these days

Why exactly are they perceived as so evil?
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You are paying year round for a place you can only stay in for a few weeks at a time.

Have to argue with other owners of the timeshare over what weeks you book.

Other owners sometimes won't honor agreements.

Some will but get really fucking pissy and passive aggressive about it so they'll book the week before you and then leave the place like a dump with turds in the toilet and everything.
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They are over priced with strict rules and fees. Sometimes your time gets double booked and there isnt much you can do but settle with other parties. They are notoriously hard to get out of. Ect.
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They might work for some people but they are a total scam, though and through.

Anything that has to be sold to you that hard isnt something you need.

Sat through a presentation in Vegas a couple of years ago and they arent fooling around. They use major manipulation tactics - like MAJOR
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J03can posted...

Sat through a presentation in Vegas a couple of years ago and they arent fooling around. They use major manipulation tactics - like MAJOR

go on
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My parents love theirs and use it all the time. Well worth the value if you go places.
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SH_expert44 posted...

J03can posted...

Sat through a presentation in Vegas a couple of years ago and they arent fooling around. They use major manipulation tactics - like MAJOR

go on

Its a very long story. Ill try to remember and type it later.

Quick part of the story - our saleswoman took us next door to an unaffiliated adjacent casino to use the bathroom where she did either coke or meth, because when she cam3 back she was lit
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simply put it is almost always cheaper to simply rent a given place a la carte when you want to go

idk how they even survive in the era of airbnb
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Darkman124 posted...

simply put it is almost always cheaper to simply rent a given place a la carte when you want to go

idk how they even survive in the era of airbnb

If you're willing to drop everything to make some last minute vacation plans those cruise companies offer the same $5000+ vacations to people for a tiny fraction of the amount to try and fill up seats that would be otherwise vacant.

They will often include 4 star hotels and shit.

The next time you get a random ass call about "you've won a cruise" you may want to listen because it might actually be legit (you still have to pay, of course, but at a heavily reduced price. You may also have to agree to be shown timeshares but aren't obligated to buy any.)
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In general, anything related to travel that is "normal person" tier is a huge ripoff. The entire travel industry, from the airlines to travel agencies to cruiselines to travel insurance providers, all operate on dishonesty and profit on shady business tactics.

If your travel isn't the "quit your job and stay out the length of a visa in some other country" style, there's a pretty decent chance you're getting ripped off somewhere.
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SH_expert44 posted...

J03can posted...

Sat through a presentation in Vegas a couple of years ago and they arent fooling around. They use major manipulation tactics - like MAJOR

go on

I don't know much about it but we have timeshare salespeople at our hotel (not affiliated with the actual hotel). All I know is they ask everybody if they want a free dinner and if they say yes they take them to a booth with other people waiting to do something.
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J03can posted...

SH_expert44 posted...

J03can posted...

Sat through a presentation in Vegas a couple of years ago and they arent fooling around. They use major manipulation tactics - like MAJOR

go on

Its a very long story. Ill try to remember and type it later.

Quick part of the story - our saleswoman took us next door to an unaffiliated adjacent casino to use the bathroom where she did either coke or meth, because when she cam3 back she was lit

Full story pls
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Ok so this was about 5 years ago - first time i travelled to Vegas. Travelling with my GF of 5 years at the time (actually am heading to Vegas tonight for one night before we fly back home, got married there last Saturday and drove to Palm Springs for honeymoon)

Second day we were there we were walking through Casinos and were approached by a person offering free show tickets.

My GF is in marketing and i can appreciate a good "hard sell" so we agreed to do this. I asked the person how long it would take - she said 3 hours. We have to give them $50 each up front (which will be refunded along with show tickets and $25 in gambling vouchers), then meet at the taxi stand in a half hour for a bus trip to the timeshare grounds.

We get on the bus and its like 25 mins down LasVegas blvd, way away from the strip. When they get you there, they pair you up with a salesperson then you go into this meeting room. Our saleslady was nice, but looked a little rough... definitely tired.

The meeting room has all these pictures on the walls of things like families laughing and 50 year old grey hair dudes jetskiing, golfing, things like that.

This charasmatic lady comes around the room (around 50 suckers like me in there) and has a very brief conversation with all of us. Presentation starts and this lady talks about her family complete with a slideshow of her family at Christmas (i like to believe that this wasnt her family, and was just a photoshoot with actors, adding to the grift). Then she goes around the room and through this story, says all of our names... theres also a few parts where the whole room is supposed to say something like "i deserve a vacation" all together.

Our Saleslady has fallen asleep at our table at this point.

Presentation with Charisma lady finishes up and now our saleslady has to take us around the grounds to sell us on this wonderful timeshare.

Instead of doing that, we go off the grounds, to a casino next door and she has to use the bathroom... as shes in there i joke to my GF, i bet shes doing coke in there - keep in mind this is a total "me being a jerk" joke because i didnt think that was true.

15 minutes pass

She comes back WIDE AWAKE and her sentances are all over the place.

We go back to the grounds to see the pool and rooms... but she says "oh you dont need to see the pool" and we check out one of the rooms. Dont get me wrong, the room is fine, and yes it has more amenities than a hotel room, but i dont want to come to the same place every time i want to vacation.

Also, because she wasnt insistant we see the pool, i figured that she knew we werent buying, and were just in it for the show tickets.

Nope.

We go to this giant ballroom with like 4x the people we came with, all sitting around tables with their salespeople.

(Contined in next post)
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The saleslady sits us down and she now has this massive binder. The theme of the day so far has been "spend time with your family while youre healthy and you can"
Saleslady turns to the front of the binder and theres a picture of a dude on a mountians on skis.

Saleslady: "do you guys like skiing?"
Us: "not really, we are more of warm weather people"
Saleslady: "well this is my brother and he died skiing"

THEN SHE CLOSED THE BINDER AND DIDNT MENTION HIM AGAIN!

She then went into full on "whats it going to take to get you into this timeshare?". We say that we are saving for a house back home. Saleslady says thats a bad investment - let me get my manager. This manager lady comes over - agrees that actual real estate is a bad investment, and they knock the price of the timeshare down. As long as this writeup has been, this time with saleslady and manager lady took FOREVER and i was starting to get annoyed. I said "you could give me this timeshare for free and i would turn you down". Manager lady chuckles and says "well nothings free" - i didnt say anything and looked at her agreeingly.

This is where this portion of the day ended. Saleslady was visibly upset, i think she thought we were a sure thing. She walked us to the next area, the whole time mumbling about us "wasting her time". She hands us off to this huge black dude in a pink shirt. We are told hes there to get our take on saleslady's performance.

I rate her as high as possible, im just having fun at this point - shes the best, very knowledgeable, fun, all that - and im being genuine. But Pink Shirt guy jumps on that and says "well why didnt you get a timeshare then?" - uh oh - we are back in this circle of we want to buy a house, and of course this guy KNOWS thats a bad investment.

Now im just walled off, saying no to everything, i want to go. He says "alright fine, but ill tell you want im gonna do for you, heres a free cruise. All you have to do is get to Fort Lauderdale, and from there - free." I say "absolutely not" and we get up to leave. Pink shirt guy says "all right then. Hey! Dont let any brothers see you wearing that hat". I was wearing a Detroit Tigers hat. I grew up near Detroit (canada side, not Windsor) and at that time was working as a contractor for a company IN Detroit. I have lots of friends in the D who are "brothers". To this day i regret not calling that guy out for his pink shirt, but i just wanted to get out of that room.

Left the room and sat down with ANOTHER person, but this time it was a non threatening early 20s white dude. He gave us our $50 each back, show ticket, and $50 gambling voucher.

Got back on the bus and it seemed that nobody had bought a timeshare - well at least that would talk. Nobody talked on the ride there but we all shared experiences on the way back.

When we got back to our hotel it had been almost exactly 3 hours, just like they said
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J03can posted...

post

Jeez, I woulda been "nope"ing as soon as I heard we had to get on a bus
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Muffinz0rz posted...

J03can posted...

post

Jeez, I woulda been "nope"ing as soon as I heard we had to get on a bus

It was an experienceeeeeeeeeeee
Glad i did it though, gained some XP that helped me avoid future hustles and how to handle hard sells
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lol I'm an Asian guy from Detroit and I wear the D hat all the time. I've seen these people operate at the hotel I work at. They are about as fake as it gets. They'll say "Hi there! Would you like a free dinner?" and if the person ignores them the smile disappears and they'll say something like "Jackass". I'm sure it sucks to get rejected or ignored a lot but just move on to the next person.
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SauI_Goodman posted...

lol I'm an Asian guy from Detroit and I wear the D hat all the time. I've seen these people operate at the hotel I work at. They are about as fake as it gets. They'll say "Hi there! Would you like a free dinner?" and if the person ignores them the smile disappears and they'll say something like "Jackass". I'm sure it sucks to get rejected or ignored a lot but just move on to the next person.

Yuup. Not even worth it to give them the time of day, but whatever, i can appreciate the hustle.
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